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American Jewish History 88.2 (2000) 289-292



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The Death of American Antisemitism. By Spencer Blakeslee. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2000. xviii + 277 pp.

The Death of American Antisemitism is a powerful and eloquent declaration about the virtual disappearance of anti-Semitism in American life and a compelling plea that American Jewry and its major organizations shift their concerns from a defensive posture, which emphasizes hostility toward Jews, the Holocaust, and the survival of Israel, to concentrate on what really imperils the continued existence of Judaism. The present focus is on matters that either no longer exist as dire threats or will diminish to irrelevance as anchors for American Jewry. Instead, Spencer Blakeslee suggests combating the disintegrative momentum of structural assimilation in the forms of intermarriage and disaffiliation. [End Page 289]

The thesis in The Death of American Antisemitism develops slowly. The book moves from derivative description (Part One, a history of Jews and anti-Semitism in America and the decline of the latter), to Part Two (an account of the major Jewish organizations--the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress, the Anti-Defamation League, and the Jewish Community Relations Council). Part Two also contains well-known material but offers a cogent and useful comparative analysis of these organizations.

Blakeslee really gets rolling in the last half of the book. Part Three is an imaginative and trenchant examination of three anti-Semitic incidents, virtually simultaneous in occurrence. The first was a Black/Jewish historical exhibit slated to open in Roxbury, Massachusetts on April 20, 1993. It was initiated by the American Jewish Committee and then hijacked by the Nation of Islam. The second event was the use of The Secret Relationship between Blacks and Jews, Vol. 1, an inaccurate diatribe published by the Nation of Islam. A Jew-hating professor of African-American history at Wellesley College used it in an African-American history course in the spring semester of 1993. Furor erupted over his use of the book and his comments about Jews, first at Wellesley and then nationally. The third incident was an anti-Semitic speech given by Louis Farrakhan at the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus on March 9, 1993. Blakeslee analyzes these incidents, chiefly confrontations between the Nation of Islam and the four Jewish organizations as exemplifications of how the structure and needs of these organizations affected their strategies in coping with these events and in the outcome of the conflicts. He contends that the Jewish organizations chose the wrong fights at the wrong times, or at least the wrong tactics. Part Four presents a compelling critique that American Jewry is wasting its resources in chimerical campaigns and should address the real threats to its future.

Although I agree with the general outlook of The Death of American Antisemitism, it seems to me that there are some serious flaws in its presentation. The incidents are from the same state, the same time frame, and the same adversary. This constitutes too narrow a base to judge the efficacy and concerns of American Jews and their organizations. Other places, times, groups, and happenings might yield different results. Blakeslee, for example, does not allow for the impact that these battles might have on attitudes toward Jews in the more demographically and politically significant White community. Has the determination of Jewish organizations to aggressively confront important outbreaks of anti-Semitism whenever and wherever they appear generated anti-Semitism or negative feelings and gestures regarding Jews in the White community and also in important sectors and leaders of the Black community, e.g. [End Page 290] the Black Congressional Caucus and in most Black politicians running for public office?

Since Blakeslee features disputes between Blacks and Jews, it is strange that there is no in-depth exploration of Black attitudes toward Jews. He claims, without evidence, that no such phenomenon as Black anti-Semitism exists and implies that Black bigotry is no more intense than White anti-Semitism. Poll data comparing White and Black anti- Semitism, however, shows that in some respects the sources of this feeling differ in the two groups and...

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